House Democrats present immigration proposal

Democratic leaders in the House of Representatives on Wednesday presented an immigration reform proposal in line with that approved by the Senate.

"Every piece of this legislation has had bipartisan support, and that is important to us," House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California said at a press conference.

The Senate, controlled by Democrats, approved an immigration reform proposal in June, but since then the Republican-majority House of Representatives has not managed to reach a bipartisan accord on the text of its own bill.

The bill presented Wednesday differs from the Senate's draft on the matter of border security, replacing the original language with a bipartisan measure that passed out of the House Homeland Security Committee in May.

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) says he will not bring to the floor an immigration reform proposal that is opposed by a majority of Republican members.

"This is not a challenge to the speaker, this is a suggestion," Pelosi said of the bill introduced on Wednesday.

"If this doesn't happen, it really is a failure of the House Republicans to listen to the American people and take action," Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) said.

Immigration reform, one of President Barack Obama's big political challenges, has been relegated to the back burner in Congress after losing steam first due to the Syrian crisis and now as a result of the budget disagreement that has led to the partial shutdown of the U.S. government. EFE